Universally known as "Psych", Mluleki Nkala has seven brothers and seven sisters. A member of the Ndebele tribe, he took the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar with his second ball in international cricket, in a one-dayer against India at Bulawayo in 1999, when he was just 18. His father had never seen a game of cricket until
then. Nkala made his Test debut against England at Trent Bridge in 2000. A medium-fast inswing bowler who can bat - he made a hundred against England Under-19s in 1998 from No. 6, he was the leading wicket-taker in that year's Youth World Cup in South Africa, with 15 scalps. Amiable and friendly, he spent a few
weeks at the Australian Cricket Academy, working with Dennis Lillee. A fringe player during the early part of his career, Nkala found a more regular place in the Zimbabwe squad after the departure of the so-called rebels in 2004.
Geoffrey Dean